Evaluation

Whilst creating my magazine, I looked at a wide range of other magazines such as ‘Q’ and ‘Kerrang’ to make sure that I followed the conventions and principal standards of music magazines today. The conventions that I found through my research gave me enough information to follow through on my own magazine. For example, on the cover on the magazines that I focused on I noticed that the title of the magazine was at the top of the page. I also payed attention to where the magazine had placed anchorage text and puffs . In particular I looked at music magazines such as 'vibe' and ‘Q’. I took inspiration from 'Q' magazine and shortened the the name of my magazine which is 'Move It' and wrote 'M. I' instead. i thought this was a good idea as it is easier to remember which is a good selling point as it a new magazine. Along with gossip magazines such as closer, heat to help me when I was writing my article to my own magazine, to make it unique on the market as well as for magazine conventions. I did look at a wide range of different magazines while doing research and followed standard music magazine styles. I attempted to make my front cover seem edgy and unique so I used photoshop to adjust the lighting to make it brighter instead of using the original image. In this particular issue the colour scheme is black,red and white the reason for this is that I made a questionnaire and the majority of audience voted that they would prefer this house style. This is something that I hope the audience will recognise when looking for my magazine and will attract new people to it. My magazine represents a narrow range of social groups. It represents young people of the age 16-24. The type of people that listen to mainstream music such as Pop, R n B and Hip Hop. The target audience could also be described as quite stylish as there is a lot to do with fashion and the latest trends in the magazine. I believe my magazine portrays this group in a positive light. This is because there is no violence mentioned at all in the magazine and the gang or knife crime culture of today is not mentioned or portrayed in any way at all. It just shows how people who came from nothing can make something of themselves. It shows successful people in the music industry and public eye, and recognises their achievements whilst encouraging readers to do the same and achieve their full potential. I believe it also represents them as a quite culturally diverse group of young people. This is because many different groups and artists are featured in the magazine in terms of race, culture and lifestyle. The artists highlighted are not only from one place but the whole of the UK. The audience I have aimed my magazine at are the 16- 24 age group. I created a questionnaire to find out what people would be interested in when looking at my magazine. My results found that people would prefer it there was a free CD on the front cover or a poster. I also did some research online to find out what type of age groups would be most interested in buying my magazine I found that the 16-24 age group are big fans of mainstream music and the genres that my magazine promotes, thus the reason I decided to make them my target audience. I also found that because of the different ways of styles and music etc, making my magazine available in other countries would not be suitable due to what are other fashions and cultures are in the other countries therefore I’m only looking to attract people from the UK seeing as it the one of the most popular countries for listening to R&B. My product is aimed at people who live in London in particular, people who live in the city are more likely to be interested in the articles, art etc, I am also from london and fit in with my target age group so I will be able to recognise easily what is needed and wanted within the magazine content. The Media institutions that I think are best to distribute my magazine are IPC Media and Bauer. However, after doing further research I have decided that IPC media is best suited rather than Bauer who are responsible for the distribution of magazines such as Kerrang, Q and Mojo. It appears that they cater for more Indie, Rock type magazines whereas IPC Media distribute a broader range of titles, such as Marie Claire, Nuts and Loaded. I think that this would benefit me as my magazine is pop/ R&B. I think that having IPC Media responsible for the distribution of my magazine would be very beneficial seeing as it is quite clear that IPC Media along with Bauer dominate the magazines market in Britain. This is something that will help my magazine because of the fact that IPC media is a well known distrubutor and will help the popularity and sales. I made a questionnaire so that i can determine what my target audience would be most attracted to. My results show that to attract my chosen target audience to my magazine I would have to include things like free cd’s or posters. My results show that they would be interested in having more pictures rather than articles and things that are exclusively mentioned such as unsigned artists, fashion, celebrities, music reviews, competitions. I looked at the magazine ‘vibe’ and noticed that they mention alot of familiar artists and have more pictures than articles so I integrated this into my own product. I decided to include an exclusive interview with an upcoming artist from abroad such as America because even though it is a magazine aimed at a British audience American culture is a big part of our own music and entertainment culture here in the UK. I thought very carefully when deciding who would be the main feature of this issue and deciding which image to use on the cover. I had to consider the person whether they would be male or female, type of shot e.g long shot, mid-shot and setting/ location but I also had to think what article or interview would go with this and if it was suitable for attracting my target audience. In the contents of this issue I have featured ‘JADE’ an upcoming solo artist from east London. This solo artist is from a british record label known in Europe, mainly the UK. This is an example of how I have catered my magazine for my target audience. I also decided that the background should be quite edgy, unique which is why I used there a is a tower block in the background.This reminds the audience where she is from and that success and never far away from home. I researched R&B artist T.I and found that he also had an image of him with tower blocks in the background, therefor I followed this convention of an R&B magazine. Through out this project I have been exposed to many different conventions and variations whilst viewing different magazines it has therefore helped me in creating my magazine. To create my magazine I had to use a program called Adobe Photoshop adobe illustrator, over the time I have developed several skills which enabled me to create my magazine. Such skills include editing the lighting of a photo, the ability to apply several images onto one layered background, the ability to edit font styles including adding different colours and lighting effects and to rasterize the background. Another technological skill I have developed was creating a blog, I created my blog on Blogspot.com and upon creating the blog I have learnt how to upload various types of work e.g images, videos and text based on responses, I have also learnt how to create polls which allowed me to get feedback. From creating this magazine I have learned how complex and time consuming it is to create a simple magazine. I have realised that many things need be considered when creating a magazine. This includes getting the right artists and shots and having to find locations. I have learnt a lot about the key conventions of music magazines.

Interview for magazine

A unique voice, a talent for songwriting and two number one singles already under her belt, East london’s latest musical success story is grabbing the interest of music-minded Britons and a generation of teenagers.The new artist Missy B has quickly turned from and ordinary teenager to a world class star and is planning to release her debut single on June 8, but before ‘‘love hurts’’ throws her so fast into Stardom , we pinned her down for a ‘behind the scenes’ chat.

Q:What’s up Missy B, how are you?Fantastic, I'm really excited. Slightly tired from doing a late night rehearsal last night but things are finally starting to look brighter.

Q: So how long have you been singing and performing?
I've been singing and performing ever since I was in diapers, basically. I mean, from laying a towel on the floor in the bathroom and using the shampoo bottle as a microphone, to local block parties and talent shows and things like that

Q:To anyone who hasn’t heard of you yet, how would you describe your sound?
Soulful R&B with elements of Jazz but still kept very contemporary and fresh - a good combination. I like to think I bring something different to the table (laughs)

Q:Tell us a bit about the inspiration behind your foxy new record…
I take influences from all different great musicians. I like artists with powerful voices and that really feel what they are singing. Such as Mariah Carey and Celion Dion.

Q:If you were going to give us just one song of yours to listen to so that you would become our new favourite singer, what would it be?
It would be "don’t lie to me" as I love to sing it live, I can really get into the character of it. This is definetlyit one of the best songs I have wrote and from what I have heard it has touched a lot of people. I believe this is because there is a lot of truth behind the words.

Q:If you could cover another musician’s song, what would it be?
It would absolutely have to Whitney Houston ‘ the greatest love of all’. It is such a powerful song and she is such an inspiration to me I really look up to her. She really knows her stuff.

Q: What was it like filming the video for "love hurts?"
Oh it was so fun, it was amazing. For me it was like being on a Dizzee rascal set. I've been so low budget for so long, and to have this incredibly amazing video was really very humbling. It was really fun, but you'll see if you ever come to a video shoot of mine one day – I'm very private about those things, I don't really talk to everybody. I'm not like the party girl running around. I might even seem to be a bit of a diva. I'm sort of with myself, in my work head space worrying about costumes, and if extras look right, and placement. don't just show up for things, you know. That video was a vision of mine. It was robert the director who wanted to do something, to have a performance art aspect that was so pop but it was still commercial, but that felt like lifestyle. It was all those things, I love it.

Q:Do you prefer to be recording or playing live?
I guess I prefer to play live, but I don’t want to have only live CDs. I like playing live because there are alot of things that can happen. I can interact with the audience and say some things to get me in trouble. On the other hand, the studio is nice because you can really take your time and make something that you know is the best thing that you can ever do. But nothing beats being up on stage in front of all that energy.


Q:What makes you stand out from the crowd?
The fact that I'm passionate about music and listening to different styles is what makes me different. I feel like I can take different styles of music and my knowledge to make my own songs, so the audience gets a mixture of music. I also think that coming from next to nothing I have made it so far and I can relate to may people.

Q: Did you know instantly that ‘‘don’t lie to me’’ would be your first single?
I think it’s a great introduction track but when I recorded it, it wasn’t like that’s definitely going to be the first single. I don’t think it was an instant thing, but I really had fun making the song so it was a really good first single for me because every time I listen to the song it brings back good memories.

Q: You’re only 18, where do you get your inspiration from?
I take my inspiration for the song writing from little experiences, not even if I’ve experienced them myself but say if something has made me sad, I will use that emotion. I just use everyday life and write about it.

Q: What can we expect from you album?
It’s very soulful pop but it’s got elements of RnB and retro sounds but it’s still very contemporary and very fresh. A lot of the songs are really fun, happy and wild, but otherwise they’re more emotional, more about heartbreak so it’s a good little combination.. The album will have a lot of the same characteristics, though. There will be lots of storytelling, because lyrics are important to me. There are a few songs that will make you cry, but there are others to make you dance and sing. Every song is on the album for a specific reason.

Q: Finally, why it is called Turn It Up?
It’s called Turn It Up because I want people to turn it up, turn the vibe up, turn everything up, and obviously there’s a song on there called turn it up.

Questionnaire survey

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Click here to take survey

Pics for mag

Proposal

front cover layout plan

kerrang

The word Kerrang is used to explain the sound of a guitar being played loudly through amplifiers and would usually be used to explain a ‘rock’ style of music. The title is in capital letters and it also has an explanation mark at the end of the word to emphasise the word kerrang and trying to get the sense of being ‘loud’ across to the audience. The title is in black to appeal to a gothic/rock type audience The title has the effect of broken glass giving the feel of being reckless and care free. The target audience is 14-25 Kerrang! was first published on 6 June 1981, edited by Geoff Barton During the 1980s and early 1990s the magazine placed many thrash and glam metal acts on the cover (like Mötley Crüe, Slayer, Bon Jovi, Metallica, Poison, Testament, Venom) but later discarded them when grunge acts such as Nirvana rose to fame. Readers often criticise the magazine for repeating this process every time a new musical trend becomes popular

VIBE

The target audience is between 15-24 · It is an R&B magazine
The word ‘vibe’ is in red so it can catch the audience’s attention.
‘vibe’ has used a variety of colours for their title. This could be because it goes with the colour scheme of that particular magazine
The magazine's target is predominantly young, urban followers of hip-hop culture. Vibe is a music and entertainment magazine founded by producer Quincy Jones. Featured segments included the back page list 20 Questions, the Boomshots column about reggae and Caribbean music by Rob Kenner, Revolutions music reviews and Vibe Confidential, a celebrity gossip column. Next profiled up-and-coming artists. The magazine also devoted several pages to photo spreads displaying high-end designer clothing as well as sportswear by urban labels such as Rocawear and Fubu.

Q

Q is the UK’s biggest selling music magazine and the world’s best music guide.
The letter ‘Q’ is in capital letters and is in white. It has a red background so it looks very bold.
The title is very clear because it is only one letter and the colours used in the title complement each other to make the title more bold.
The target audience is 25-45 and advertises a wide range of music also dealing with past music this is why it is targeted to this particular audience
It also does in depth interviews
Originally it was to be called Cue (as in the sense of cueing a record, ready to play), but the name was changed so that it wouldn't be mistaken for a snooker magazine. Another reason, cited in Q's 200th edition, is that a single-letter title would be more prominent on news stands.
Often, promotional gifts are given away, such as cover-mounted CDs or books. . Every issue of Q has a different message on the spine. Readers then try to work out what the message has to do with the contents of the mag.
Q is normally published at the beginning of a month
It also compiles a list of approximately eight albums, which it classes as the best new releases of the last three months.
Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth
Q was first published in 1986, setting itself apart from much of the other music press with monthly production and higher standards of photography and printing.

NME

The word ‘NME’ stands for New Musical Express. They have used short form so it is easier for the audience to remember.
The colours black, white and red are bold and the dominant colour red suggest that the magazine is rebellious.
The white outline shows that the title is in 3D and the use of shadows also shows this.
It used to be a prestigious magazine and is now a gossip magazine.
It was the first British paper to include a singles chart
It is published weekly
The first issue came out in 7 march 1952
From the issue of 21 March 1998 onwards, the paper has no longer been printed on newsprint, and more recently it has shifted to tabloid size: it has full, glossy, colour covers
The editor is krissi murison

front cover analysis

front cover analysis

article analysis

The contents page has two different images. The bigger picture is of the group standing at the premiere and is the main focus point for the audience. This suggets that the image maybe important to the rest of the magazine. The smaller image is of a cover that is coming out and the promotion is telling the audience to subscribe and save money. This will attract the audience because as an audience we are always looking for cheaper deals. The strip on the side shows what articles will be shown throughout the magazine and also showing what page numbers they are on. This makes it easier for the audience to find what they are interested in.The colour scheme is black, white and red. This is a house style that has been developed. This contents page is presented neatly because it is divided up into sections making it easy for the audience to understand. One section is the large central image and it has text explaining where and why the phto was taken. Another section is for the strip down the side which states what is on the other pages and the page numbers.Finally the strip at the bottom is used for advertising or subscribtions

IPC media

IPC Media produces a range of 80 magazines both in the niche and mainstream category. Almost two in every three UK women and over 44% of men read an IPC magazine. That's almost 26 million UK adults.
Some of the mainstream magazines are:

marie claire
nuts
look
Some of the niche magazines are:

Ships Monthly House
Railway Magazine
Motor Caravan

Bauer

Official website: http://www.bauer.co.uk/ or http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/
- Bella magazine in 1987 impact on the women's market
- Magazines, radio, TV, online and digital businesses
- 282 magazines in 15 countries
Some of the mainsteam titles include:
Heat FHM, Grazia Closer, Kerrang! Q
Some of the niche magazines are:
Modern Rail Pregnancy and Birth, Angling Times Bird Watching, Classic Cars Practical Photography

BBC magazine

Official website: http://www.bbcmagazines.com/
BBC magazines produce a wide range of magazines all audiences such as adults, teen, pre-teen and pre-school.

The adults magazines include:
-olive, good food, focus and top gear

The teen magazines include:
-top of the pops

The pre-teens magazines include:
-girl talk and all about animals

The pre-school magazines include:
-toybox,waybuloo and bob the builder.

devlopment hell

Official website: http://www.developmenthell.co.uk/
Development hell is an independant media company based in islington. Development Hell is an independent media company that produces two monthly niche magazines.
· Mixmag
· The Word
The target audience for both of the magazines are adults,because of this Development Hell acquired Dontstayin.com, a social networking site for clubbing.

Jlo frontcover

On the front cover of this magazine we can see that the magazine has completely changed the audiences view of Jennifer.We see her here holding her babies showing she is happy being a mother and has settled down.Her dress is a pastel like colour so the focus is on her chilldren instead of her. Jennifer shows her happiness by her smile and also shows that she is comfortable moving from a sexy icon to a proud mother. The colours used for the picture of the magazine are very light and shallow colours unlike her other magazines. This shows that she no longer is the center of attention and she now shares the spotlight with her children.Her head covers the title of the magazine showing that she is an important part of the magazine.The title has an outline of lilac which blends in with calm colour scheme.Eventhough there is an image in the corner, it doesnt take the attention away from Jennifer

Jlo frontcover

Jennifer head is covering quite a large part of the title showing that the magazine is well known and having Jennifer on the front cover will make the magazine more popular. Jennifer is wearing red dress which blends in with the backgroud of the front cover therefore this draws the audiences attention to the parts of her body thats showing.The red, orange and yellow colour scheme makes are colours associated with fire so it gives her a firey look and makes the picture more bold and sexy.Her focus is directly towards the audience. The sub title ' his pleasure' suggest they are talking about jennifer also.Her hair is being blown back by wind which shows her whole face and shows off her shoulders and chest.This makes her more revealed and connected to the audience.

jlo

On the front cover of this magazine(instyle) Jennifer has a face that immediately stands out on the front cover because her head is covering the actual name of the magazine. Not only does this show that the magazine is well known it shows that jennifer has a respected and powerful status.Half of jennifers dress blends in with the white background but because of the other half of the dress which is black, the audience look in more detail and will catch the readers eye which is perfect since the magazine is about fashion .She is standing side on which shows off the dress and gives her more of a feminine look.Her hand is resting on the side of her hip which shows off her figure and makes the dress more interesting to look at. Jennifers hairstyle is tight and sleek often associated with business people and have chosen this hairstyle to make her face stand out.The colour of her lips match the main title which brings out her face na ddoesnt make her dress so plain.The text of the cover is quite small except for the sub heading 'fall fashion'. This shows that jennifer was picked because she is a dominant fashion icon and has an effect on the fashion industry.The colours used on the front cover are very bold and classy.

Jlo

On the front cover of this magazine her head is only covering the end of the main title which can suggest that the magazine is not yet well known and have used jennifer to increase sales rates this suggests that she is a powerful icon.In this image she is wearing a light blue bikini which brings out her golden skin colour and which is often desired by many women . The background which is also a light blue emphasises the way her body is positioned and again brings out her skin tone.She is positioned sitting on the floor which is covered with sand showing that she is exotic at the same time powerless as she is on her knees,which will attract men to the magazine as they like to think they are dominant. Her hand is placed on her hip and she is leaning to the side showing off her curves and defined stomach.The title below her knee gives us a sense of how she is seen by the industry and fans which is a 'goddess'. The look on her face is fierce yet seductive which give more sex appeal to the picture.The title next her head saying 'sex mad' sets a mind frame for the reader that this lady is all about being desired or a goddess. This image portrays jennifer to be a sex icon and eventhough the magazines main audience is women this image will definetly attract some men.